61% of Italians in Ireland backed Prodi

ITALY: Members of the Italian community who voted through the embassy in Dublin were the second highest supporters of Romano Prodi's l'Unione grouping in the English-speaking world.

Italians abroad can vote in the elections for the senate and in such a narrow contest, they played a major part in tipping the balance.

Of the 1,200 who voted in Dublin, 62.89 per cent supported Mr Prodi's alliance compared with the 18.7 per cent who backed Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. The rest of the votes were spread out between minor groupings, with 11 people (1.19 per cent) voting for the far-right faction of Alessandra Mussolini.

Among English-speaking countries, Mr Prodi's support was stronger only in New Zealand, where 70.9 per cent of the handful of Italians who voted opted for l'Unione against 16.81 per cent for Forza Italia.

Elsewhere, Mr Prodi's supporters were less prominent. In the UK he received 43 per cent of the vote compared with Mr Berlusconi's 30 per cent and in the United States, Mr Berlusconi got 34 per cent against Mr Prodi's 33 per cent.

Canadian-Italians preferred Mr Prodi to Mr Berlusconi by 48 per cent to 25 per cent, while in South Africa, the traditionally conservative Italian community supported Mr Berlusconi by 42 per cent to 33 per cent to Mr Prodi.

Detailed results of the Italian election are available on the website of Corriere della Sera, www.corriere.it.